Goat Captured in Westford After Escaping Slaughterhouse Has a New Home

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By Liz Taurasi (Patch Staff)

A goat that escaped from a Tewksbury slaughterhouse in December and was captured in Westford nearly a month later has a new home.

Last week, the goat was transferred to Sunny Meadow Animal Sanctuary in Holden.

The goat, named Braveheart, was on the run for nearly a month. After leading a Lowell resident to spend nearly three hours that first night pursuing the goat. The goat made his way through an area of the city, while residents, as well as animal control officers and Lowell Police kept up the search. Despite being cornered a couple of times, the goat kept managing to evade his captors.

But that wasn’t the end of its travels. The goat was later spotted several times in Chelmsford before being captured near Rte. 495 in Westford in January.

Sunny Meadow has been posting updates on its Facebook page about Braveheart since he arrived at the sanctuary late last week.

They say he’s scared, but getting settled in with the does in the stall beside him. Sanctuary officials say he’s very thin, but looks healthy. He has some thick scar tissue on his neck and “for some awful reason holes have been drilled through his horns and wire put in. (The wire has been removed).”

Another post talks about Braveheart’s first night at the sanctuary:

“Every night while Braveheart the Lowell Goat was out in the cold and dark, all alone and scared, when we fed and tucked all our animals into their barns and coops, we said a prayer for him. Tonight we fed and tucked HIM into his warm, safe barn, with tears of joy and thankfulness in our eyes.”

To make a donation to the Braveheart Fund go to:http://sunnymeadowsanctuary.org/donate/

Photo: Captured goat Braveheart bonds with Helen at his new home at Sunny Meadow Animal Sanctuary in Holden. (Credit: Sunny Meadow Animal Sanctuary’s Facebook page)

Related:

• Tewksbury Goat Escapes from Slaughterhouse, Continues to Elude Capture
• Missing Goat Spotted in Chelmsford
• Goat That Escaped Slaughterhouse Captured in Westford